Music-leaf turner.



S. D. CASE. MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 27, 1911. 1,039,696, Patented Oct. 1, 1912.

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S. D. CASE.

MUSIC LEAP TURNER.

APPLICATION I'ILBD our. 27, 1911.

Patented Oct. 1, 1912.

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MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1, 1912.

Application filed October 27, 1911. Serial No. 657,078.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SANFORD D. CASE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rock Hill, in the county of Sullivan and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Music-Leaf Turners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a music leaf turner and while the same can be employed in connection with music racks or stands of various kinds, it is especially adapted for a convenient attachment to the usual upright piano.

The object of the invention is to turn successively the inside pages of a piece of music, holding stationary the first and last page or the cover and back of an ordinary composition printed in sheet form.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device in which all of the leaf holders can be turned back at one operation, thus again presenting the first page of the composition to the performer.

A still further object of the invention is to improve and simplify the spring feature whereby the pages when turned will be securely held in adjusted position, whether turned forward or backward.

In carrying out these various objects, the invention consists in the novel features of construction hereinafter described, pointed out in the claims and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the device applied to an uprightpiano. Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the leaf turning and holding devices detached. Fig. 5 is an en larged vertical section through an upper end portion. of the rack, and, Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the drawings, 1 represents a suitable rack adapted to support the music and also to carry the leaf turning and holding devices. This rack comprises a suitable horizontal ledge 2, upon which the music rests and at its upper corners it is provided with spring clips 3 between which the first and last pages are secured. Arranged substantially vertically in said rack and journaled in its upper and lower end portions are a series of rods 4, the number of said converging rods being equal to the number of leaves which the device is adapted to turn, and any reasonable number of such rods may be employed. It will be obvious that three of these rods will be sufiicient for the average composition as these would turn the inside sheets and with two pages of music held by the clamps 3 would allow for the turning of the leaves of a seven or eight page composition. The upper ends of the rods 4: extend into a suitable recess 5 formed in the top member of the rack 1. At their upper ends each rod carries a slightly curved finger 6. At their lower ends the rods are angled to form outwardly extending portions 7 said port-ions projecting and swinging in suitable slots 8 formed in the base of the frame 1. Upon the front of the top member of the frame is mounted a small vertical rod 9 upon which are pivotally mounted arms 10 and said arms carry at their outer ends suitable spring clips 11, adapted to grip the upper marginal portions of the pages to be turned. A brace wire 12 extends from the outer end of each arm and is also pivotally mounted upon the vertical rod 9. The arms and clips may all be formed of wire as shown, although any suitable form of clip may be employed which it may be desired to use. A spring 13 is coiled about a suitable pin upon the end of each finger and the free end of each spring is then connected to one of the arms 10. By means of this construction each rod 4 is connected by a suitable spring to one of the arms 10. It will be obvious that when all of the arms are thrown by rotation of the rods 4: upon the same half of the rack that they will lie one over the other, and consequently they can be moved from one side of the rack to the other successively or by rotating that rod 4 to which the under arm 10 is connected all three of them will be carried to the opposite side of the rack together.

In use the pages to be turned are fitted into the clips 11 and as the successive pages are played the performer presses the foot portions 7 in succession thus turning in regular succession the arms 10, the clips 11 and the pages held by them. It is not necessary that the performer do more than bring the foot portion through a small are, as it will be obvious that after the finger 6 has passed a certain point the spring 13 will throw the arm through the remainder of its travel, and it will also be obvious that when the finger is resting in the recess in oppositely and will throw the arm into en v piano I groove the rear face of the side a edge of the upper front panel of the piano,

makes are provided with front panels of sliding the rods 15 in the grooves 14. To

so that when said screw is tightened the the top member of the rack that its pull contends to hold the arm against the left hand side of the rack. But as soon as the finger is moved outwardly and has traveled through a sufficient arc to throw the coiled portion of the spring in advance of the upper member of the rack, that it will act gagement with the right hand side of the rack.

In order that the device may be readilyj attached and held in place upon an upright members of the rack and in said grooves; 14 are slidably held rods 15, which carry; rearwardly projecting angled brackets 16,? which are adapted to rest over the upper? the top lid of the piano resting upon said: brackets. These brackets are formed of a; thin metal so that they can be readily bent j and it is my intention that they be furnished to the user straight as shown in Fig. 5, and when attached to the piano the inwardly; projecting portions are bent downwardly, thus forming the complete angled bracket. The reason for this is that pianos of various different thicknesses. The height of the, front panel also varies in different pianos and in order to allow for such variation. the brackets are vertically adjustable by lock said rods and brackets in their ad-; justed positions I employ a split sleeve 17 1 for each rod, and a suitable screw 18 works through the parallel ends of the split sleeve,

ends of the sleeve will be drawn together,: thus clamping the rod 15 to the sleeve and also clamping the sleeves to the side mem- 1 bers of the rack. It will be understo'od however that other means for locking the rods 15 in adjusted position could be employed without departing from the spirit of this invention.

It is of course understood that the rear face and the base of the rack is covered; with felt as shown at 19 as is also brackets 16 in order to avoid marring or scratching any portion of the piano.

What I claim is 1. A device of the kind described comprising a rack, a vertically arranged rod carried by the upper portion of the rack,

rotatable rods carried by the rack, said rods having outwardly extending portions at their lower ends, curved fingers carried by their upper ends, leaf gripping arms pivotally mounted upon the first mentioned rod, and springs secured respectively to said fingers and to said arms.

2. A device of the kind described comprising rotatable vertically arranged rods,

1 a vertical fixed rod arranged adjacent the upper ends of the first mentioned rods, arms pivotally mounted on the fixed rod, means carried by said arms for gripping leaves, laterally extending fingers carried by the rotatable rods and springs secured at one end upon said fingers and at their opposite ends to said arms, respectively.

3. The combination with a rack having a base portion and a top member, said top member being recessed upon its front face, rods rotatably journaled in said base and in said top member and extending into said recess, curved fingers carried by said rods, said fingers being adapted to normally rest within said recess, arms pivotally supported at the upper portion of the rack, leaf gripping devices carried by the arms, and springs connected respectively to said fingers and to said arms, said fingers projecting out of said recess when the rods are rotated.

4. A device of the kind described comprising a rack, fixed leaf gripping members carried by the corner portions of the rack,

rotatable rods journaled in the top and bottom members of the rack, movable leaf gripping members pivotally mounted upon the upper portioniof the rack, the said upper portion being recessed, fingers carried by the said rods and adapted to move into and out of said recess, springs connect-ed respectively to the said arms and to the said fingers, the point of connection between the springs and the fingers resting to the rear of the pivotal point of the arms when the said arms are in one position and being in 1 advance of said pivotal point when the arms are thrown in their other position, and means carried by the lower ends of said rods and projecting outwardly by which they may be rotated.

SANFORD D. CASE.

Witnesses CI-IAs. E. BRooK, E. B. MoBATH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

